Monday, April 5, 2010

Medical Miscues - "Huh????"

Many of you have read about the "plums" story in my book, a typical example of what I call a medical miscue. Those of you who haven't read it - well, you should get your hands on a copy of DL pronto!

Along with the miscommunication that happens in the doctor's office as illustrated by the "plums" event...I think of the medical jargon that's thrown around in conversation, leading to all kinds of "miscues'. Here's another example:

A girlfriend of mine has hemochromatosis - a condition that causes your body to absorb and store too much iron. When her blood tests indicate that she's reached an iron level that isn't safe, she has to have a significant amount of blood drawn (like one does at a blood bank)...which is a process called a phlebotomy. She was explaining this to a co-worker, mentioning that she'd be back in the afternoon after the phlebotomy was over. Her co-worker, mouth agape, just kept saying, "I can't believe you're coming back to work after that. Are you going to be okay? That's crazy." She'd never heard of returning to work after such a procedure. Why? Turns out, she was confusing phlebotomy with lobotomy - the psychosurgical procedure where the frontal lobes of the brain are separated from the rest of the brain. Yeah, I guess I can see why my friend might need the afternoon off, in that case!

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Sara Gorman

In 2001, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus, at the age of 26. I had been married less than 6 weeks and was at a highpoint in my career in television production. While I fought to keep hold of the life I'd known - demanding, yet fulfilling career, busy social life, packed vacation schedule - after four years of running my body into the ground, I realized I was fighting life, not living it. Thus, I downshifted almost every aspect of my life. I let go of my career and made it my number one priority to get myself back in good health. I'm proud to say that I've reached my goal, but work each day to maintain that healthy lifestyle. despite lupus. My book details the steps it took to reach that goal. A native of Indiana and graduate of the University of Notre Dame, I reside in Alexandria, Virginia with my husband, two young daughters, and pug dog.